


Death 2.0

by fragilecapricornpanic



Series: Ben and Klaus [15]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves Friendship, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Canon Compliant, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Ghost Ben Hargreeves, Humor, Kid Fic, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Light Angst, One Shot, One Shot Collection, POV Alternating, Pre-Canon, Protective Ben Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:01:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27658531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fragilecapricornpanic/pseuds/fragilecapricornpanic
Summary: Pressing the button on the elevator, Ben groaned when his finger simply went straight through the metal. “Can you press the button for me?” Ben requested from Klaus, knowing he was far too claustrophobic to press the button for his own use.Right before Klaus pressed the button, he had a bright idea. “Just jump down there.” Klaus pointed to the staircase, wanting Ben to leap down the gap in the middle. His brother appeared massively worried by this suggestion, as if he had anything to lose. Nerd.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Series: Ben and Klaus [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944970
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	Death 2.0

**Author's Note:**

> These are written from their subjective POVs btw, I don’t think Ben’s lucky to be dead etc haha

Walking into the kitchen in the middle of the night, Klaus nearly had a heart attack when opening the refrigerator illuminated Ben brooding beside it. “Why’re you awake?!” Klaus murmured, hoping his startled yelp didn’t wake that guy up. It seemed unlikely he’d let Klaus stay overnight if he was awoken. Why had Ben even been lingering by the refrigerator?! He has the nerve to constantly call Klaus erratic, yet seemingly spends his time dawdling beside kitchen appliances.

“Because I’m a _ghost_ , you idiot!” Ben whispered, contradicting his own words and quietly speaking as if he were still alive. He’d been dead for months, it was infuriating that his brother had only just noticed he couldn’t sleep. How did Klaus know nothing about ghosts, what the hell had dad been teaching him for seventeen years? It seemed that even Ben had known more about ghosts prior to his death than Klaus did now. Sneaking up on him was funny though, Ben had enjoyed that. Apparently no longer having footsteps was useful.

Would it have killed Klaus to have skulked out here to turn a light on for Ben? After counting every ceiling tile in the hallway 53 times over, Ben had risked entering the apartment for a change of scenery. That had been a daunting prospect for Ben, so he’d been inexpressibly glad to have been greeted by silence.

Couldn’t ghosts sleep? That sounded horrible, no wonder they were all cuckoo. Klaus still hated them though, besides Ben. Well, he kind of hated Ben, but just in the normal way a brother hates another. He didn’t hate him as much as One and Two loathed each other, they were in a league of their own. Was Ben messing with him about not sleeping? A lot of the time Klaus had a strong feeling that his brother was bullshitting about this stuff. “Pinky promise that ghosts can’t sleep.” Klaus stuck his pinky out, which seemed to make Ben rather disgruntled. He was so much more fun before he died, what went wrong?

Glaring at Klaus, Ben wanted to wait and see how long it would take for him to realise Ben couldn’t touch his finger. Most of the time Ben forgot about that too, but it was glaringly obvious given their current topic of discussion. “Sometimes it’s painful for me how dumb you are.” On reflex, Ben dodged out of the way when Klaus lunged for him. Even if he hadn’t moved, Klaus would’ve fallen straight through him. How many times was his brother going to try and wrestle Ben before he fully realised he couldn’t? He probably still had bruises from last time.

Well that large thud was definitely going to have woken him up. “You’re dead to me.” Klaus hissed, assuming that phrase would piss Ben off. According to his face, it had. Amazing, that idiom was going to be used frequently from now on.

—

Storming out of the apartment, Klaus wanted to illogically lunge on Ben again just to be petty. “Don’t you think he was kinda creepy anyway? He was like forty...” Ben tentatively commented, keeping up with Klaus like they were joined together by string. That guy _was_ kind of creepy, but that was utterly irrelevant. He was better than having nobody, things could’ve been much worse. It seemed like Ben stressed more in death than he had in life, which was becoming annoying for Klaus. Was he always going to nag this much?

“It’s fine, I’m used to it.” Klaus casually muttered, which only made Ben more concerned. How long had Klaus been doing this prior to dad recently kicking him out of the academy? Pressing the button on the elevator, Ben groaned when his finger simply went straight through the metal. This was always going to cause him mental anguish... constant reminders that he was dead, every single day. Even the most mundane things were upsetting to discover he could no longer do. “Can you press the button for me?” Ben requested from Klaus, knowing he was far too claustrophobic to press the button for his own use. Walking down all of those stairs would be unwelcome, even though Ben no longer had real muscles to fatigue.

Right before Klaus pressed the button, he had a bright idea. “Just jump down there.” Klaus pointed to the staircase, wanting Ben to leap down the gap in the middle. His brother appeared massively worried by this suggestion, as if he had anything to lose. Nerd. “You’re already dead!” Klaus snorted, though he showed himself up by trying to drag Ben along to the staircase. It was hard to adjust to that, particularly since Ben looked just as alive as ever. “Come on, it’ll be fun! I’ve always wanted to do it!” The heels incident at 12 had been enough to frighten Klaus off that particular irresponsible whim. He tended to indulge all the others though.

“What if it hurts?!” Ben reluctantly followed Klaus to the stairs, anxiously peeking over the handrail. Why did this even pop into his brother’s brain, what goes on in there? “Does _this_ hurt?!” Klaus enthusiastically punched through Ben’s head, which gave him a slight feeling of brain freeze but nothing else. Still though... it was so far down, the thought of falling was unnerving - even if no pain was going to be involved. Ben had a foreboding sense that things were quickly going to spiral into chaos.

Imagine being dead and not making the most of it! Since his fears were almost totally drowned out by a vast cocktail of drugs, Klaus climbed up onto the handrail to blackmail Ben. “If you don’t jump then I will.” he impishly declared, unsteadily standing on the railing. Staring down at the bottom, Klaus envied Ben’s lack of risk. The possibilities were limitless for his brother, death was a golden opportunity. The cold sensation on Klaus’ hand informed him that Ben was attempting to pull him back. He worried far too much, as far as Klaus was concerned. Turning back around to face his brother, Klaus wobbled and nearly joined Ben in the afterlife.

Why was Klaus’ answer to that giggling?! Ben had never felt so powerless in his lif- _Ugh!_ He was never going to get used to being dead, was he? “Fine! I’ll jump down!” Ben yelled, needing to coax his lunatic brother down from his likely death. Luckily this worked, as Klaus excitedly climbed back over to the safety of the floor. “For the record, I liked you more when I was alive.” It hadn’t been so irritating to spend time with Klaus when Ben had been able to spend time with other people too. The ability to hit his brother had also made it more tolerable, which was something Ben hugely missed now. Ben scrunched his eyes closed, dreading this deranged task. He could tell Klaus had mischievously made the effort to shove him over the railing, due to the strange sensation on his back.

Eagerly watching Ben, Klaus was severely underwhelmed by what happened. “Awwwww!” he moaned, disappointedly looking down at his brother. He’d just materialised at the bottom, no exciting or dramatic movement involved. It would’ve been hilarious if he’d have spectacularly plummeted. Possibly if Klaus did this again on the roof of a tall building, the steep height would force Ben to properly fall... he’d have to try that. “Did it feel like you were flying?!” Being dead looked so fun sometimes, it was like there were never any consequences. That sounded ideal! 

This shortcut to walking would be helpful, Ben was certainly going to keep it in mind. “I don’t know, I’ve never flown before.” Ben shrugged, relieved that it hadn’t felt like death 2.0. The little black and white girl could’ve at least had the decency to have wiped the memory of the tentacles killing him. Nobody prepared people for coping with their own death, since they’re not supposed to be around to experience it. Given Klaus’ power, their dad should’ve really considered readying them for being ghosts, but that would’ve involved caring about their wellbeing - something he was incapable of.

“Please don’t jump too!” Ben anxiously pleaded, seeing the internal debate his brother was crazily having. This was precisely why mom was given special programming to deal with Klaus when they were little kids. Now Ben was having to take on the brunt of that non-stop responsibility, whilst also being unable to touch his brother.

Lowering the foot he was just about to climb back onto the railing with, Klaus angelically smiled at Ben. “Don’t be silly, Benny, I wouldn’t do that.” Maybe next time.

—

Whilst Ben couldn’t get headaches anymore, he knew he’d have an excruciating one if he were still alive. “I’m not freaking punching myself!” he sternly refused for the twentieth time, intending on secretly doing it on his own. His brother had made him curious about what would happen, but he was being a pain in the ass - Ben wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of finding out. Jumping fifteen feet was enough pandering to Klaus for the foreseeable future.

“I’ll punch myself if you’ll punch yourself!” Klaus ridiculously offered, like that was somehow going to convince Ben. On second thought, that had pretty much convinced Ben. This could make up for how much he wished he could punch his brother. “Okay, deal.” Ben sneakily agreed, not going to follow through with his end of the deal. Not in front of Klaus anyway, he deserved to be both punched and disappointed.

Animatedly sticking his hand out for Ben to shake, Klaus wondered why Ben was rudely turning him down. “I’m dead, Klaus.” his brother coldly remarked, deepening his scowl. There was no winning with Ben, he got all mad when Klaus made dead jokes, but also never stopped mentioning being dead. He was impossible to please. Retracting his hand, Klaus clenched it into a fist instead, readying to punch himself. Quenching his undying curiosity was going to be worth the pain, Klaus was sure. “Let’s go on three.” Ben counted down, also balling his hand into a fist.

Watching Klaus happily punch himself in the stomach, Ben felt overwhelming catharsis. It was unexpected that he’d genuinely punched himself, Ben had been anticipating him pulling a fast one too. Why the hell hadn’t he, and why had he done it with such gusto? “What the fuck, Ben?!” his brother groaned in pain, absolutely outraged that he hadn’t followed through with it. It felt like Ben would never stop chuckling. “Banishment!” Klaus vehemently yelled, as if merely saying the word would make it happen. Dad really hadn’t taught him anything, had he? That was going to prove very entertaining for Ben, he could make a whole host of false claims about ghosthood.

“Am I banished?” Ben deadpanned, staying firmly in this realm. With any luck, Klaus was too high to be able to remember this tomorrow, and Ben could trick him into punching himself again. Who knows how many days Ben could string this out for, it could be a never-ending loop of self-inflicted punches. It seemed being dead had at least one perk, the ability to mess with his brother indefinitely.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m pretty sure most of the pre-written things I have left are just Ben and Klaus bc obviously they spent every day together for twelve years before canon lmao


End file.
